The invention relates to an ultrasound tomography device in accordance with the characteristics and main concepts set forth below.
An ultrasound tomography device for transmission tomography (UCTT) is, for example, known through U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,018. That patent describes an individual ultrasound transmitter, which includes several narrow transmission converter elements on a concave-shaped radiation surface, and which generates a fanlike expanding field of ultrasound waves. A convex-shaped large surfaced ultrasound array with a number of individual reception converter elements is used as an ultrasound receiver. The configuration of the ultrasound transmitter and ultrasound receiver array can be rotated around an object to be examined. In this way tomographical slices derived from a plurality of different perspectives are provided. As with the X-ray computer tomography, the intensities at the intersections of the ultrasound waves in the different perspectives are computed and used for the subsequent calculation of a tomography slice. With respect to reflection tomography (UCRT), on the other hand, ultrasound tomography devices are described in the essay "Resolution and Image Quality By Ultrasonic Echo Tomography: Experimental Approach" by E. Hundt, G. Maderlechner, E. Kronmueller and E. Trautenberg from the "Fifth International Symposium on Ultrasonic Imaging and Tissue Characterization And Second International Symposium on Ultrasonic Materials Characterization", June 1-6, 1980, page 7, and in the essay "Ultrasonic Reflectivity Tomography: Reconstruction with Circular Transducer Arrays" by Stephen J. Norton and Melvin Linzer from "Ultrasonic Imaging 1", 1979, pages 154-184.
Similarly, difficulties are encountered with the ultrasound scanning device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,300, which generates sagittal image slices by employing a number of individual sector scanners. With this system, the individual sector scanners are arranged on an arc segment. This arc segment can be moved by means of a carriage in horizontal or vertical direction relative to the object to be examined. Rotation around the object to be examined is not a feature of the disclosed device.